OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On May 6, 1975, a tornado touched down in Omaha. Three people died and hundreds were hurt. Thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. And yet, it could have been worse were it not for the courage of a then-23-year-old Omaha police officer named David Campbell.
In the last 48 years, he says he's never talked in-depth publicly about what happened that day. Campbell met with 3 News Now Anchor Mary Nelson at Westgate Elementary.
These are his words.
It "seemed like an uneventful day when I went to work."
Now retired, Officer Campbell was on interstate duty.
"The calls start coming into 911 and they advised, dispatch advised there's possibly a report of a tornado but we can't confirm it."
He traveled west on I-80 toward 72nd Street.
"And I look, and here's this massive tornado crossing the interstate right in front of me when I come over the hill."
"It came off just enough where I could get off the exit ramp and decide what my plan was. I didn't really have a plan — it's just 'I want to save people' and here you go."
As Campbell drove north on 72nd Street, cars and homes were tossed around him.
"And I could hear, this wasn't the train noise, this was a jet engine noise. I was in the service around jets. And it's just roaring. Make your ears pop."
"So, I get down to Center Street and then Bergan Mercy gets hit. And it took the cars in the parking lot and it swirled them up into a pyramid. Now I understand what I'm up against."
Campbell relayed everything he saw over the police scanner.
"And I notice there's no traffic. So I got the feeling that, hey, people are hearing this."
First responders weren't the only ones listening. Families were listening to Campbell on their scanners at home as radio and TV stations, including KMTV, took his words straight to air.
Campbell explained how the tornado began to circle around him near 72nd and Western.
"I says, 'Hey, if I'm supposed to do this, give me the strength to continue on.' Because, whatever would have happened, I'd had to accept it."
That moment came about 25 minutes after Campbell first spotted the tornado.
"The thing is, I had to feel kind of neutral at the time because I don't know if I could have done all that stuff. To focus on it. I don't know."
Though a young officer, Campbell had important experience. He served in Vietnam and survived a three-day typhoon there. He believes that helped prepare him for the tornado's wrath.
He continued to follow it north to Maple, then east to Benson, where he grew up. Now, 30 minutes into following the storm.
"And I could see it was going up and it was trying to come down again."
"Then I realized that it's gone and I said, 'Car 360: I'm at Benson Park and the tornado is dissipating.'"
In his battered cruiser, Campbell returned south to the hospital to help the injured.
"Cars are everywhere with people bleeding. Just loading them up in trucks and everything else. And everybody's taking their turn trying to get in there."
In the one photo taken of Campbell that afternoon, he doesn't look afraid.
"Going into this, going down to try to complete my assignment, there was no fear at that point."
"But in the back of my head, I've got to keep praying, to get me through this thing."
A man of faith, he believes God was with him that day.
"You try to evaluate where in the steps of life you are. With all this behind you that makes you go onto the next step."
"My destiny was — I was going to help people. Whatever it took."
Campbell credits others for their bravery that day. Specifically mentioning first responders, the National Guard and parents who protected their children.
"Just think of how many lives they saved. Everybody was given an instrument to do something that day."
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
